26thMay2012 Technology Strategy Board Success Story No 7.

26thMay2012 Technology Strategy Board Success Story No 7.
This is No 7 in a review of the “success stories” presented by the Technology Strategy Board showing how the £2billion of taxpayer’s money is being spent on “cutting edge” technology which will result in Britain regaining its manufacturing position alongside Germany, Japan and South Korea.
http://www.innovateuk.org/success-stories.ashx

The Technology Strategy Board “success stories” page has an account of a project which states “New technology that can capture carbon emissions from ships at sea and store them until they reach port is being developed by a UK company.”

Quotes from TSB site:
“New technology that can capture carbon emissions from ships at sea and store them until they reach port is being developed by a UK company”
“The £1.1m Maritime CCS (carbon capture and storage) project aims to develop a blueprint design for an on-board process to capture and temporarily store CO2 emissions until they can be discharged into transmission and storage infrastructures at the next suitable port.”

“This technology would be very beneficial to the worldwide plans to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere which is believed to be the cause of global warming.”

“Process Systems Enterprise Ltd, the lead UK partner in Maritime PSE has received £360,000 from the Technology Strategy Board to pursue designs of the new technology and is working with Norwegian partners Det Norske Veritas SA (DNV) and the Norwegian Research Council as part of the Eurostars initiative.”

“About Maritime CCS
The project will use PSE’s model-based innovation (MbI) software technology and approach, in which mathematical models are applied to simulate the behaviour of complex physical processes.

With a virtual model of the process it is possible to explore many different design aspects of the process design, see the effects of changes and find optimal design solutions before a single pound is spent on expensive physical prototypes.

Norwegian project partner DNV (Det Norske Veritas) brings its extensive knowledge of shipbuilding to the project. As well as incorporating the design into existing vessels it is also developing new international standards for carbon capture and storage in new build ships.”
“In late 2010 the project will come to the end of its first phase. Once the technology screening is complete and the project is closer to the actual design phase the partners will engage with manufacturers regarding the potential for providing the systems or their components to shipbuilders”.

My Comments:
It soon becomes clear that this project is not going to take an amine plant and compress the gas into stored liquid carbon dioxide, with the input being the exhaust gases from a large diesel engine. This project is going to use process simulation software to develop an “optimal design”, so no one needs to leave the office.
So by the end of 2010 the partners were looking for someone to make the carbon capture and storage equipment at £million per unit and supply 50 – 100 units per year. There is no mention of any results, action or follow up on the Process System Enterprise Limited (PSE) site, but Det Norske Veritas (DNV) do mention that this is being handled by their DNV Research & Innovation Greece with Greek Universities: http://www.dnv.com/press_area/press_releases/2010/dnvresearchinnovationtakesleadonshipcarboncapture.asp
It also fails to mention DNV software http://www.dnv.com/services/software/
DNV software is a large software division of DNV with expertise in ship design, oil & gas process and many other fields, they have their own conference in Oslo in June 2012.

So is anyone making the CCS equipment to the design developed by PSE?

The technology for CO2 removal and release is well known and optimised in the oil and gas industry, many amine sweetener plants are available both new and used. Around the world several CCS projects are already in use at a small scale, so there is no innovation of cutting edge technology involved.
The targets of the Technology Strategy Board will be met if a UK manufacturer starts to make this equipment.
Typical Houston yard JAS Marketing has 7 plants available at the moment. In the United States the manufacturers with customise a plant with amine mixtures to suit whatever sour gases are in the incoming stream. Impressive equipment with tall stainless steel towers. The same dealers will supply a range of compressors and coolers to liquefy the CO2 after liberation.
So perhaps the next step is to modify an existing carbon plant to accept the exhaust gases from a diesel engine and produce a stored liquid. Then some space inside a tanker infrastructure needs to be found to mount it all. Then to find a manufacturer who will start to make the plant. This would need major funding in the UK as most of the existing manufacturers are in the USA.
Bearing in mind that in the UK the CCS at Longannet and at Kingsnorton power stations have been abandoned and even Greenpeace is now coming out against CCS: http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/PageFiles/419418/CCS_Report_FINAL_lores.pdf
I find it difficult to see any future in separating CO2 compressing it and transporting it to some underground storage where the volumes between extraction and re-injection don’t add up:

“Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering Accepted 4 November 2009
http://twodoctors.org/manual/economides.pdf
To demonstrate these claims, this paper will consider carbon dioxide sequestration via EOR, in deep saline aquifers, and in depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs, using as a basis the emissions from an average coal power plant with generating capacity of 500 MW. Our very sobering conclusion is that underground carbon dioxide sequestration via bulk CO2 injection is not feasible at any cost.”

This project has not produced any innovation, or employment or growth in the UK economy but may result in a UK manufacturer supplying CCS plant for world shipping at £1million each. It consists of moving existing oil & gas technology around so that it fits in a ship, something that DNV software can do anytime: http://www.dnv.com/services/software/